A lawmaker urged the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ask Norway to develop the West Philippine Sea as a source of clean and renewable offshore wind energy.
Makati City Representative Luis Campos Jr. said offshore wind farms in the West Philippine Sea would be consistent with the long-term plans to develop the area as the country’s energy hub.
Campos was responding to Norwegian ambassador Bjorn Jahnsen’s pledge that it would help develop the Philippines’ wind and other renewable energy resources during a briefing following his meeting with Marcos Jr.
“Norway has the new technologies needed to put up offshore bottom-fixed or floating wind turbines. The Philippines would benefit from the eventual transfer of these technologies.”
“Norway has the new technologies needed to put up offshore bottom-fixed or floating wind turbines. The Philippines would benefit from the eventual transfer of these technologies,” the veteran legislator said.
The Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project in the West Philippine Sea currently supplies 20 percent of the country’s demand for electricity.
The seasoned lawmaker said the advantage of offshore wind farms is that they can be built faster because they do not have land use and right-of-way issues.
“We have no problem with allowing foreign companies that are majority-owned by Norwegian entities to develop our offshore wind energy resources,” he said.
“The development of wind power would help supply the country’s rapidly growing demand for electricity and create badly-needed new jobs in the process.”
Campos said the development of wind power would help supply the country’s rapidly growing demand for electricity and create badly-needed new jobs in the process.
“We have to transition faster to renewable energy such as wind, solar and hydro if we want to insulate the country from future global oil price shocks,” he added.
Campos said the Philippines currently generates only 443 megawatts (MW) of electricity from wind farms that are all onshore.
Energy Development Corp.’s 150-megawatt wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte is Southeast Asia’s largest wind power producer. It consists of 50 wind turbines spread over a 600-hectare site.
